North America Refining Catalysts Market Trends

Market Trends of North America Refining Catalysts Industry

Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) Catalysts to Dominate the Market

• The fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) process plays a crucial role in refineries while producing lighter products from crude oil.
• FCC unit helps in converting a variety of feed types, such as cracked gas oil, gas oil, deasphalted gas oils, vacuum/atmospheric resins, and others, into lighter and high-value products, such as diesel oil, jet fuel, LPG, kerosene, and gasoline.
• In the FCC unit, the feedstock is heated at high temperature and moderate pressure. Along with this, the feedstock is brought in contact with a catalyst which helps to break the long-chain molecules of the high-boiling hydrocarbon liquids into small molecules, which are further collected in the form of vapors.
• In the FCC process, the catalysts are used in the form of fine powders. Previously, catalysts, such as amorphous silica-alumina were used for cracking vacuum gas oils in the FCC unit. However, in the early 1960s, zeolite was commercially introduced as FCC catalysts, which had been a significant advancement in the history of catalytic cracking.
• Owing to the aforementioned factors, FCC catalysts are of great importance in propelling the market demand for refining catalysts in the forecast period.

United States to Dominate the Market

• United States refining catalyst market is driven by the demand from petroleum refineries. United States petroleum refinery capacity continues to increase mainly because of increasing number of petroleum refineries.
• Secondary units, that support heavy crude oil processing and production of ultra-low sulfur diesel and gasoline, which include thermal cracking (coking), catalytic hydrocracking, and hydro-treating, have also registered a significant increase.
• Currently the U.S. government implementing international political gain policy claiming 'energy dominance' by deregulating oil and gas production to further leverage rising United States exports.
• Due to the above-mentioned factors, the market for refining catalysts in the country is projected to grow during the forecast period.